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This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. This report includes the text from the original Building Classification Committee report considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration.

Bayfield School was opened in 1886. As the population of the inner city area expanded, the 1896 building was erected to provide for the increasing roll of younger children. By 1904 the school roll had doubled to 328 and the main school building was constructed. As the roll continued to grow, additions were progressively made to both buildings, through to 1913.

The school has long been a focal point in the community. By the 1900s with the drift of younger families to the newer suburbs and the development of smaller inner city residences, the population of the area had reduced to the point where the Bayfield School was redundant. It was eventually closed and the children accommodated in other nearby schools. The redevelopment of the area in the 1970s, together with the influx of Pacific Island immigrants, resulted in the evolution and adaptation of the buildings to an alternative community education use as the Pacific Islanders Education Resource Centre.

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Historical Significance or Value

This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. This report includes the text from the original Building Classification Committee report considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration.

The former Bayfield School developed over two decades at the turn of the century in response to the growing school-age population in a rapidly developing area of Auckland City. With the decline of this population in the 1960-70s the school was closed to be later redeveloped as the Pacific Islander's Education Resource Centre thus maintaining its importance as a community-based educational facility.

This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. This report includes the text from the original Building Classification Committee report considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration.

ARCHITECTURAL QUALITY:

Bayfield School is one of the few remaining examples of the use of the Queen Anne architectural style in educational buildings in New Zealand.

The choice of this style suggests that Mitchell and Watt were influenced by the educational buildings of the well-known English Architect, E.R. Robson (1835-1917). Robson, as architect to the London School Board for 1871 had deliberately rejected the Gothic style, because of its ecclesiastical associations, as being inappropriate for secular school buildings. It is not surprising that architects for the free, compulsory and secular New Zealand school system should follow this lead.

While the former Bayfield School shares many of the Queen Anne stylistic characteristics of Robson's models, it differs in construction and size. Built in wood, rather than in brick it is also a single storey building and the proportions are less attenuated.

TOWNSCAPE/LANDMARK VALUE:

The former Bayfield School stands on a prominent corner position on an important city road. It has considerable streetscape value.

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Mitchell & Watt

John Mitchell (c.1859-1947) and Robert Martin Watt (1860-1907) were in partnership at Auckland by 1892.

Mitchell was born in Ramelton, Northern Ireland, and received his architectural training in Ireland before emigrating to New Zealand in 1888 and settling in Auckland. He became known for his early use of reinforced concrete. In 1893 he invented a baked earthenware block which was used in domestic construction. He left for England in 1912 and was involved with a prefabricated housing project at Bournemouth. He retired in 1922 and returned to New Zealand.

Watt was born in Scotland and studied architecture in Glasgow with the firm of Barclay Bros. He immigrated to New Zealand about 1878 for health reasons and practised in Auckland both on his own account and in partnership with Mitchell. In 1960 he was elected president of the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects.

Mitchell and Watt were appointed architects to the Auckland Education Board in 1892. Mitchell undertook new work while Watt undertook rebuilding projects and renovations to existing buildings. Their work includes schools at Te Mata (1905) and Maungatautari (1905), additions to schools at Cambridge (1900) and Dargaville (1905), the Seddon Memorial Technical College (1908-13). Non-educational buildings include Mt Eden Congregational Church (1900). Watt was responsible for the design of the Ley's Institute, Ponsonby (1905-06).

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Physical Description

This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. This report includes the text from the original Building Classification Committee report considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

The former Bayfield School consists of two separate buildings. Both are simple timber variations of the Queen Anne style. The 1896 building is the plainer. It has bracketed eaves, and the upper portions of the gables are filled in and supported by brackets.

The adjacent 1904 building shows a development of the same style. The street frontage is characterised by three gabled bays with a small gabled porch at the junction of the bays. The treatment of the gables in the 1896 building is repeated. The main decorative feature of the facade is the arrangement and surrounds of the windows in each bay. The central bay has four double hung windows with two smaller windows above, surmounted by a pediment. A decorative scroll links the upper and lower windows. On the outer bays, the pattern is repeated but with three large windows below and a single, pedimented fanlight above. The porches have a single central sash window with a fanlight above. Windows in opposite walls provide for both cross lighting and cross ventilation in the class-rooms.

MODIFICATIONS:

(i) 1896 Building:

1896-1903 - The two small original rooms extended to take in corridors.

1913 - Extra room, and porch added.

1913-17 - A number of alterations to internal partitions.

1976 - Substantial internal modifications to provide for use as Resource Centre.

Bayfield School

Other Information

A copy of this report is available from the NZHPT Northern Region office.

Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rarangi Korero identifies only the heritage values of the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary conditions.